There is an ever-increasing demand for wireless services. From simple one-way pagers to full function cellular telephony, consumers and users continue to insist on the fastest and most functionally comprehensive technologies. In this regard, users are now increasingly demanding wireless real-time audio/video content delivery to mobile telephones, PDAs, laptop computers, or any other portable device having the ability to receive and play such content. News, sports and entertainment programming is becoming more readily available for distribution for such platforms and consumers are increasingly eager to receive it.
However, delivering such content in an efficient and user-acceptable manner is no small task. As discussed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,768,527 to Zhu et al., which is directed to a wired infrastructure, one of the biggest issues to overcome in real-time audio/video transmission is packet loss. Packets may be lost during transmission for any number of reasons, including bit errors due to physical links in a network, as well as limited buffering and processing capabilities at network nodes. In a wireless environment, in particular (which Zhu et al. do not address), carrier signals may be lost as a result of physical structures (e.g., mountains, buildings, etc.) that are disposed between a transmitting location and a receiving location, as well as a result of environmental factors such as weather. Of course, if a carrier signal is lost, then any packets that were being transmitted during that no-carrier signal period will also be lost.
Thus, there is a continuing demand for systems and methodologies that improve the delivery of content, especially real-time audio and video content, to wireless devices.